Regenerative Medicine, Biologics, Hair Loss and Why It Matters

One of the hottest fields in all of medicine is regenerative medicine. The field is based on the ability to regenerate tissue. Often times the field involves the use of stem cells (often taken from fat) or from other tissue sources such as blood (PRP) or a variety of growth factors isolated from other tissue sources. Here tissue is supplemented with factors to help it grow and improve the surrounding tissues. Think of it like fertilizer for your transplanted tissue.

The use of regenerative medicine has led to the use of enriched fat leading to higher success rates. So why not hair? Physicians will sometimes incorporate PRP with hair procedures and have found improved success rates. The way PRP works is that in part aggregated platelets will increase growth factors up to 8 times. While PRP can be helpful, we have found other natural sources can lead to much higher rates of growth factors which has in our experience translated to greater success. Many of these techniques are just being realized and are being led by experts such as Dr. Sameea, a leader in regenerative medicine located in Chicago.

FAQs

So how does regenerative medicine work? Regenerative medicine is the most exciting developing area of medicine. It works by helping the body heal itself from within using peptides, growth factors and other biological compounds to help the body repair and replenish itself.

Do other doctors use regenerative medicine? There are leaders of regenerative medicine throughout the world. Many of the experts are located outside the United States. Dr. Sameea uses techniques from all over with an evidence based approach driving her decision making.

What proof do the doctors of Aesthetic Scalp have that regenerative medicine work? Dr. Shah has used regenerative medicine extensively with fat transplantation. Without enriched fat he has noticed only about 10% of the fat actually surviving transplantation, but with the use of regenerative techniques he has noticed survival rates ranging from 50-105%. The knowledge gained here as well as from other experts has shaped our use of regenerative techniques for hair transplantation. Using growth factors we have noticed improvement in hair transplantation survival as well as improved conditions of the scalp overall. Growth factors have been a game changer for patients with slick baldness and temples where hair transplantation has typically a lower success rate.

Can you describe the exact cocktail of ingredients you use? The techniques we use are all based on science and evidence based. During the harvest period, we use regenerative medicine in the scalp area with wound healing factors in the donor bed. The exact regenerative factors depend on each patient’s own physiology (male/ female/ exact type of hair loss/ etc) and are matched and injected accordingly. For postoperative patients, we use a proprietary hair spray/rinse to further nourish the newly placed grafts. We have found our techniques decrease shedding and increase hair growth at a faster rate. By improving conditions of the scalp we attempting to get better results with less hair!!!

Can I use solely regenerative medicine for my hair loss? Yes, the use of injections can be helpful for a variety of patients which includes female hair loss, diffuse hair loss and other patients. We offer a variety of customized treatments designed to help your specific cause of hair loss.

What is regenerative medicine?

Regenerative medicine is a branch of medicine where regeneration of human cells is performed by use of peptides, hormones, growth factors and other solutions to allow improved results. Several terms are important for us to understand.

• Cytokines are proteins that signal the surrounding cells to perform different actions.
• Growth factors are able to allow cells to differentiate, proliferate, and germinate (grow).

What exactly is PRP?

PRP (platelet rich plasma)- It is one of the best studied regenerative medicine techniques. It is essentially a concentrated source of platelets which contains cytokines and growth factors. It can create large changes in some cases of hair proliferation.

What is ECM?

Extracellular matrix (ECM)- is a collection of extracellular molecules secreted by cells.

What is MSMM and how does it work?

Matristem Micromatrix- is dervied from a pig bladder and contains a slowly biodegradable substance. The use of MSMM works mostly in decreasing healing time and decreasing scarring. In addition, it is theorized to cause tissue regeneration. During surgery, MSMM can be used with the hair grafts to help nourish them.